"Did you bring everything you need?"
"Yes!" (All)
"Ah. Hold on. I forgot my water bottle. Be right back!" (Minazuki)
Minazuki rushed back towards the dormitories. Right now, the Agano sisters and I are at the Base's gate, seeing Yahagi and the winners of the Exercise-Tourament off. The prize for winning the Exercise-Tourament was a 3 day 2 night stay at Tokyo Disney Resort and access to Disneyland. The whole thing was a package deal so it's cheaper than buying the park tickets and rooms separately. Still bloody expensive though. I initially thought that 3 days is far too long, then I remembered it's Summer Break. The park is bound to be extremely crowded and the girls might not be able to enjoy most of the rides. So I took the package. It's faster to go there by plane so I got plane tickets for them as well. Zuihou was extremely elated about the plane ride.
I'm not going with them. I still have a lot of work left. So instead, I got Yahagi to keep an eye on them.
"Geez. I already told her to check properly last night." (Suzukaze)
"Yahagi, I will leave them in your hands."
"Yes! Leave them to me!" (Yahagi)
Despite trying to act mature, Yahagi is just as excited as the rest of them. She is bouncing along with them.
"It's a good thing my sisters aren't here to see us off. Agano-nee will beg me to switch places or bring her along." (Yahagi)
"There is a reason why I scheduled her for night patrol yesterday."
"You are pretty mean sometimes." (Yahagi)
"Admiral, are you sure you don't want to go?" (Zuihou)
"It's Disneyland, you know. It will be fun." (Shioi)
"Sorry. I would love to but I need to submit all the reports and paperwork by today."
The two of them look dejected. Even Shigure looks a little sad. I'm happy that they are thinking of me, but there are things that need to be done.
"In exchange, share with me your experience. And maybe buy some souvenirs as well. Have fun in my stead."
"Got it. We will buy lots of souvenirs for Admiral!" (Zuihou)
Their smiles returned. That cheered them up a little.
"Sorry. I'm back." (Minazuki)
Minazuki returned to the group.
"Come on. Move it. Any later and you will miss the bus."
"We are off!" (All)
"Have fun!"
I watched as the seven girls walked out of the base and disappeared behind the wall. Alright. Time to work.
What a pain...
I returned to my office. Prinz Eugen was already waiting inside.
"You're here early."
"Heehee. It's been a while since I was appointed your secretary so I got a little excited." (Prinz Eugen)
"There's a lot of work that needs to be done today."
"It's fine~ Like what the Americans say, this isn't my first rodeo." (Prinz Eugen)
She gave a bright smile. Prinz Eugen has always been this cheerful and bubbly. There was a short period of time when she was lost and confused but that was years ago.
"By the way, what is a rodeo?" (Prinz Eugen)
And maybe a little airheaded at times.
"How are the two newbies?"
"Pola and Zara? They are strong and good shipgirls. But their tactics are too straightforward and predictable." (Prinz Eugen)
"I figured that was still the case. Old habits die hard. Are they fitting well with the others?"
I passed a stack of papers for her to handle. It is our expedition records so far. We need to check it and ensure the number of expeditions we conducted matches the records and which ones passed or failed.
"A little awkward at first, especially with Pola's drinking problem. But they are good friends with everyone now." (Prinz Eugen)
"With you too?"
Prinz Eugen smiled brightly again,
"Yeah!" (Prinz Eugen)
That's good to hear. The two of them are adjusting to their new environment perfectly.
"Admiral, what should we do about their equipment?" (Prinz Eugen)
"Good question... Hm... For the time being, I will procure some foreign blueprints from HQ. Meanwhile, we still have lots of screws and construction materials that we can use to improve their stock equipment first. They can also use ours if theirs don't have the needed firepower."
I stamped and sign the combat reports and placed them aside.
"We didn't do much expeditions last month." (Prinz Eugen)
She passed back the expedition records. I bundled the stack with a rubber band and it immediately rolled itself up. So it's thin enough to do that.
"With everything happening around us, it's not a surprise."
I removed the rubber band and used a paper clip instead. I moved to the next batch of reports. Prinz Eugen and I continued working on today's documents, taking a short break and having small talks once in a while. As I tossed the completed stack of documents into a box, a small booklet caught my eye.
"What's this?"
"Hm? Let me see." (Prinz Eugen)
Prinz Eugen got up and looked over my shoulder. So close. My face almost touched the side of her breast. There is a pleasant smell wafting from her as well.
"Reinforcement Transport Operation! Battle of the Mediterranean. First report." (Prinz Eugen)
"Why is this hiding in the stack of today's documents? Who brought them in today?"
"Akashi did. Maybe she placed them together and forgot?" (Prinz Eugen)
"I can see her doing that."
So this is the name they are going with for our upcoming operation. The meeting we had the other day did mention it was a small-scale operation in the Mediterranean.
I opened up the booklet. As the title suggested, this will be a transport-based operation. It contains initial intel and observations on the Abyssals located in the area. The battle will mainly center around the coast off Alexandria, Malta and Gibraltar. Several Abyssal Princesses have been spotted, including the usual Battleship Princess, Aircraft Princess, and Harbor Princess. All of which are in the summer forms. Routes have been drafted but not confirmed. Once more data has been obtained, an updated report will be handed out to all participating Districts.
"It really is a small-scale operation."
Just like my expedition records, the intel booklet is thinner than usual. Less than thirty pages.
"Humm..." (Prinz Eugen)
"Looks like we need to ramp up our expedition numbers to make sure we don't fall into the re-"
As I turned to face Prinz Eugen, I felt something touched my nose. I almost saw myself in her eyes.
"Uwa?!" (Prinz Eugen)
"Ah. Sorry!"
Prinz Eugen recoiled and stepped back immediately. Her face was extremely red. What was she doing getting that close to me?!
"Erm... Um..." (Prinz Eugen)
Why are you getting flustered and confused?
"I'm going to the toilet for a bit!" (Prinz Eugen)
She immediately rushed out of the office.
There is a toilet right over there though.
What was that all about?
The feeling of our nose touching still lingers.
Seriously, what was that all about?